Recommended Posts

Was pretty busy lately, but this topic interests me a lot, and I believe that multiplayer HTML5 games is the next big step to HTML5 games.

I work on different approach since the beggining of HTML5, and I came up with some solutions ... (like eureca.io library)

this is a multiplayer big world demo I made three years ago with eureca.io http://demo.ezelia.com/ just login using any random username and start playing ... it's a prototype you can't do anything except interact with NPCs and other players, it's a proof of concept for eureca.io

(please also note that the rendering engine used here is outdated and slow compared to what we can do today with Pixi !)

I abandonned the multiplayer idea for a while but kept maintaining eureca.io and made a tutorial (shared by Daniel above) to use it in a Phaser game. I believe in multiplayer model, but the platforms are still not mature.

platforms like clay.io for social games and playnd for turnbased players are very good initiatives btw !

now IMO, the good news to HTML5 multiplayer games (not only turn based) is called WebRTC !with WebRTC I believe in true multiplayer HTML5 ! and this is why I'm working on a new eureca.io version which will support WebRTC transport !

not peer-to-peer WebRTC but server centralized !, because the library main approach is to allow calling server functions from client and client functions from server . and because I believe that network sockets/channels stuff is what's making developers scary when it comes to multiplayer developement.

I'll try to make a new tutorial using Phaser or Pixi game when the new version of eureca.io is available, to demonstrate a usage of webRTC transport.

hope it'll help other project to build cool stuff on top of this library

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Multiplayer games seem to be way more complex to code then single player only games.

I started making a turn based multiplayer game in March 2010. Spent about 300 working days on it until now - but part of that effort was due to having no previous experience in HTML5 and Javascript.

There might be a lack of ideas. But on the other hand, there are many games out there which can be adapted to be a HTML5 multiplayer game.

The biggest problem is probably the needed effort, and the lack of will of the game studios to experiment.

Dear skilled devs, you can still make multiplayer games if you like, just find an idea that doesn't require skills you don't have! Keep them small, keep them cheap to make, and have fun developing.

If one has to earn money with it, that might be correct.

Else I would dismiss all in the quote but "have fun developing" and perhaps add a "always have a working prototype". When I started developing the game, I had no HTML5 skills whatsoever. I created the draw-routine of the canvas first and provided content to it from the server, and then I just continued adding content. All the time, I had a game which worked...

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Multiplayer is orders of magnitude more complex than single player, but, as the OP stated, the web is perfectly suited for this type of game, as in, it was created in part to cater for this sort of application.

I think he's right, there should be more types of games like this.

Problem, of course, is that most people just dont have the skills or the time. As indie devs you do need to keep your projects tight and unless you can find funding up front to give you time to work on it, the complexity limits the number of these types of games being produced.

Until developers can self-fund or get funding upfront in a reliable way you wont see complex games produced by indies often. Its just a different space.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Multiplayer games seem to be way more complex to code then single player only games.

I started making a turn based multiplayer game in March 2010. Spent about 300 working days on it until now - but part of that effort was due to having no previous experience in HTML5 and Javascript.

There might be a lack of ideas. But on the other hand, there are many games out there which can be adapted to be a HTML5 multiplayer game.

The biggest problem is probably the needed effort, and the lack of will of the game studios to experiment.

If one has to earn money with it, that might be correct.

Else I would dismiss all in the quote but "have fun developing" and perhaps add a "always have a working prototype".
When I started developing the game, I had no HTML5 skills whatsoever. I created the draw-routine of the canvas first and provided content to it from the server, and then I just continued adding content. All the time, I had a game which worked...

same here.
I never could earn anything good from multiplayer games. except learn more and more.
however, I only worked on html5 board games. (you know? make circles, checkers, etc are easy for non-artist guys :D)
If a day I catch a close artist friend, I might make better multiplayer games and earn something :/
but anyway developing multiplayer games is fun! don't?
i mean when your server crashes, and lots of users keep see "Connection problem", connenction broked, some of them swearing and cursing to you, some other laughing to you, others makes fun of you, lol i noticed these 1000 times :))
or when you need to restart your server while players have playing the game and they getting mad when you close their games...
with all these challenges I still likes to develop multiplayer games. kind of addict. this is addict because when you earn nothing your games, but still continue working on them, or maybe i'm sick i don't know.

player A joins the room, no one is ready to play with it, he left the room, 30 seconds later next players comes, again no one is to play with him and left.... lack of players!

i thinks a multiplayer game need LUCK to success.

whenever i made a multiplayer game, i posted the url on reddit and other websites, only first days i had active players on game and very fast lost all players.

i want to make a success multiplayer game! but i just can't. programming is no enough.

Multiplayer HTML 5 games nowadays needs to work like Diablo 2 did. You join a game, and can play through the entire game by yourself even if no one is online. This solves the problem of 'lack of player's.

Don't make a game dependent on other player's, but make a game dependent on it's core. Multiplayer is icing on the cake.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Multiplayer HTML 5 games nowadays needs to work like Diablo 2 did. You join a game, and can play through the entire game by yourself even if no one is online. This solves the problem of 'lack of player's.

Don't make a game dependent on other player's, but make a game dependent on it's core. Multiplayer is icing on the cake.

I agree with this. You need to be able to come/go AND play with bots or by yourself. If nobody else is online. Prob 10 minutes of self directed play might be enough time for someone to log in help and populate the world.